One Rain Drop Raises the Sea
by Lady Jenna
Summary: Karl's life without Dinotopia, but with Dinotopians.
1. 1

****

I own Amelia and Earhart. See "Breathe Deep" and "Survival of All or None."

"One Rain Drop Raises the Sea"

By: Lady Jenna

Karl rolled over and looked at his alarm clock. He still had an hour before class so he rolled over to fall back asleep. He heard David's door slam shut. Why Karl decided to share a dorm room with his half-brother still avoided him. He heard the front door open, and he heard David's voice. David was probably telling him to do the laundry or something of the sort. The front door closed but Karl still heard footsteps. David must have forgotten something. Karl closed his eyes again and drifted off into a light sleep as soon as his eyelids touched.

"Karl!" a loud voice said right by his ear. Karl yelled in surprise and rolled off the bed away from the voice, taking the blankets with him. He peered over the side of the bed to see Amelia sitting on it, laughing at him.

"Amelia!" Karl yelled at her. She continued laughing.

"Oh come on Karl, it's not like you sleep naked or something. Or do you?" she asked stretching her neck to see more of him. Karl wrapped himself more in his blankets.

"No, of course I don't…" he said and she laughed again, "what are you doing here?"

"We have class, guy," she said raising an eyebrow in her smirk. He stood up and pointed to his clock.

"We have an _hour_," he informed her. She let out a soft chuckle.

"Yea… If it was _Thursday_, but it's _Friday_… We have History in half an hour," she explained. Karl froze and went over it in his mind. Today _was_ Friday… He sighed and walked over to his closet to get out some clothes. Amelia watched him.

"I went to a party last night…" he confessed. She nodded.

"Yea I know. Marion and I went too. We saw you there," Amelia said. Karl turned to her with wide eyes.

"When did you see me?" he asked her urgently. Amelia grinned.

"Before _and_ after you took Cindy's shirt off," she told him. He sighed, turned around, walked into his closet, and closed the door behind him. Amelia sighed in aggravation and got off his bed and walked over to the closet door.

"Oh come one Karl! Marion understands hormones or what ever it is you follow blindly! Besides, I'm not so sure she saw what I saw!"

"What if she did?" Karl asked. Amelia sighed.

"Then she still has David!" Amelia said. The door to the closet opened and Karl stuck his head out to glare at her. He then walked past her and wordlessly into the bathroom, fully clothed. 

"How'd you change so quickly?"

Karl had slept through a good part of his history class. That was, of course, when Amelia wasn't jabbing him in the side with her elbow to keep him awake. By the time he…_if_ he graduated he was sure he'd have a tremendous bruise for life on his right side. Amelia jabbed in every class, and she always sat to his right. How he had been unfortunate enough to have Amelia in _every single one_ of his classes, he wished he knew. It was karma, he supposed. Retribution for all of the shit he's gotten away with. His half brother, on the other hand, had every class with Marion. Sometimes life could be light and dark, good and bad. There isn't always a gray between the two. David gets Marion, the light, and Karl gets Amelia, the, well, Karl wasn't sure exactly what Amelia was. Though, he supposed, Amelia might be a shade of gray. A rather dark shade but gray none the less. Marion and Amelia had grown up together. They both had the same, soft accent; they both laughed at the same things. They even ordered the same things at restaurants. But Marion was always the light. She always outshone Amelia in everything. Beauty, brains, manners. Marion was always polite and courteous of others. Amelia was always, well, not always. Amelia was never always something. She changed. One moment she'd be one thing, the next another. Anyway, now Karl was on his way to his favorite little café. He and his friends met there a lot after classes, but now he was alone. Amelia had another friend to see so she had left him. He was glad to be out of her company, but sad to be left alone. Despite what Karl might let other people believe, he hated to be left alone. Amelia knew that but she left him anyway. Though, he thought, she had asked him if he wanted to join her. David and Marion wouldn't be out of class for another twenty minutes. He had told her no. Her friend was _not_ his friend. Karl and he, Earhart, had never gotten along. Amelia and Earhart were like brother and sister, and Earhart thought Karl was "the wrong kind of person" for Amelia to hang out with. He was probably right, too, Karl thought letting out with a chuckle.

"Karl! Karl! Karl! Karl!" Karl heard the familiar small voice yelling. He looked over and saw the small toddler running over to him, barely being able to pronounce his name with her inexperience with the language. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his legs in one big hug. After his balance was safe he placed a hand on her head, stroking her strawberry blonde hair.

"Hey 26," he said and looked to the direction the small girl had come running from. A man was walking toward him with a smile on his face. The man was tall, mostly in the legs, but he was unthreatening in every way. He laughed slightly when he saw the girl's firm grip around Karl's kneecaps. Karl had found the girl in an alley way a few months ago. She had been abandoned and was scared. He took care of her so she's loved his ever since. She didn't know her name; she could barely speak, so he had named her. He had found her in an alley on 26th street. The tall, smiling man was Zippo. Zippo had originally been a friend of Marion's so he had her kindness and other similar qualities. He had custody of 26, but she belonged to Karl. 

"She spotted you from 100 feet away," Zippo said with a smile. Karl laughed a little as he managed to pull the little girl off from around his legs.

"She has good eyes," Karl told him. Zippo nodded.

"Karl! Karl! Karl!" 26 yelled again. It was the only word she ever said. She didn't say it; she _yelled _it, always. He kneeled down so to face her. A smile stretched farther across her face. Karl had almost lost his humanity until he found 26. She always made him feel important, worth while. She was the one responsibility he couldn't run away from, and he didn't want to. He was like a god in her eyes, who would want to run away from that? He picked her up into his arms and he laughed with joy and hugged him around the neck.

"You just got out of class, right?" Zippo asked him. Karl nodded.

"History," Karl told him. Zippo nodded with a smile.

"Yes, I always loved history. The people, the places, the languages," Zippo said looking at the sky, fondly thinking of the subject. Zippo was somewhat of a nerd, but he was cool anyway. It's very hard to explain.

"I'm glad you guys showed up," Karl confessed.

"Feeling a bit lonely?" Zippo asked him in a considerably more serious tone. Zippo was also very perceptive. 

"Naw. Just it'll make Amelia feel not so bad about leaving me," he lied. Zippo nodded, knowing he was lying. 

"Karl! Karl! Karl! Karl!" 26 yelled again, happily. Karl bounced her slightly in his arms, letting out a soft chuckle. He turned back to Zippo.

"When are you going to teach her other words?" he asked him.

"Oh she knows other words. She just likes your name the best. Listen, you don't have another class for three or four hours, right?" Zippo asked him. Karl nodded. "Could you watch 26 for a while? I have some work to do at the library and…" 

"Of course I will, you don't have to ask," Karl told him. Zippo nodded in agreement, made his good byes, and left.

"Karl! Karl!" 26 yelled and clapped her hands. Karl set her back onto the ground and held her hand as they walked.

"So 26, what do you want to do?" he asked her. She thought for a few moments before letting go of his hand and wrapping her arms around his leg.

"Karl! Karl!" he heard a different voice calling him. He turned around the best her could and saw Amelia running over to him, waving some papers in her hand as she ran. When she got with in a good distance 26 shot off of Karl's leg and attached herself firmly around Amelia's. Amelia laughed and said hello to the small girl. Karl took the few steps over to talk to her.

"Here," she said laughing as she handed him the papers in her hand. It was his notebook. She must have taken it by mistake.

"Amelia! Amelia!" 26 yelled and Amelia smiled. Karl half smiled, half frowned.

"She's never said anything other than my name before…" Karl told her. Amelia laughed slightly at Karl's frowning face. 

"What? Sad you're no longer the center of her universe?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"No, just sad that out of all the people she knows, it's _you_ she likes," he told her and she laughed.

"Better me than _Cindy_…" Amelia said in a softer voice and batting her eyebrows.

"Oh shut up," he told her. 


	2. 2

"Karl! Karl! Karl!" 26 yelled as she pulled Karl and Amelia into the restaurant. They were greeted by a man dressed as a giant duck. 26 pushed the duck aside and pulled Karl over to the ball pen that was closest to them. 26 jumped into the pen, sprouting balls in every direction. She seemed a bit upset when Karl didn't join her in the foot deep bit of balls. Karl and Amelia had taken 26 to some little play/ pizza place. Karl and Amelia sat down at a table and kept an eye on 26 as she soon began to barrel around the place, knocking a lot of stuff over. 

Karl had ordered a pizza so now it lay between him and Amelia. He had a slice of it in his hands but Amelia just held a waxed paper cup, occasionally stirring the soda in it with the straw and taking a sip. She would stir it, and then sip, Karl noticed. 26 crawled up into the tubes which ran the entire length of the large room so Karl's eyes could no longer track the small child.

"Does she ever slow down?" Amelia asked him. Karl chuckled slightly and shook his head. 

"Never slows down, never stops. She even sleep walks," Karl told her. Amelia laughed.

"I wonder what she dreams about,"

"Me probably," Karl said and Amelia nodded. 

"David said that 26 has helped you as much as you've helped her."

"David talks too much," Karl said taking a bite from his pizza.

"Marion said the same thing," Amelia told him and he looked up her.

"What else did Marion say?" he asked her as she leaned forward and wiped some sauce from his cheek. 

"Um, that she loves you, she dreams about you every night, and wants to marry you, and, oh yea! She wants to be the mother of your children," Amelia told him laughing. He didn't find it funny. 

"You have a sick sense of humor, you know that?" he asked her and she laughed. 

"And you've fallen hopelessly in love with the same woman your brother has. Sad, sad, Karl Scott," she said.

"How Earhart has been able to put up with you for this long is beyond me…" Karl admitted. Amelia laughed a little. 

"He wonders the same thing about me and you, 'How you have been able to put up with Karl Scott for this long, Amelia, is beyond me,'" she quoted. Karl frowned again.

The pizza was finished. Amelia had eaten a few pieces but Karl had consumed most of it. 26 had disappeared among the tubes about half an hour before, and had not been seen since. Karl had recognized 26's honking laugh a few times but hadn't actually seen the toddler. 

"Okay, I got one," Amelia started, setting her cup on the table, "a pirate walks into a bar."

"Oye," Karl said with a sigh.

"No wait, listen. A pirate walks into a bar. The bartender says 'Hey you have a steering wheel in your pants!' And the pirate responds, 'yar, I know, it's driving me nuts!'" Amelia said and Karl chuckled slightly. 

"You don't tell Marion these jokes, do you?" Karl asked her.

"Of course I don't. She wouldn't get it," Amelia said. Karl nodded. Marion could be a bit on the naïve side, but he loved her anyway. Karl sighed and searched the ball pen and little windows in the tubes for 26. He didn't see her.

"Hey Amelia…" he started, turning back to her. She wiped her mouth with her hand and placed her cup back on the table, it's plastic lid sitting next to it.

"Yea?" she asked with a chunk of ice in her mouth.

"Who do _you_ think Marion will chose?" he asked seriously, trying not to smile at the crunching sound coming from her mouth as she broke the ice down. She swallowed when she was done.

"Since when do you care what I think?"

"You're her _best friend_. You must have _some_ idea."

"_Marion_ doesn't even have an idea."

"I know, but… You seem to know more about stuff like this than Marion does. Who would you pick, if you were her?"

"If I were her?" Amelia asked. Karl nodded.

"Yea, just, _pretend_, there's a man alive you could like you."

"You _do_ realize you're asking for my help here…"

"Yea, yea, sorry."

"Okay. If I were _Marion,_ and I had to choose between _you_ and _David_. I'd pick, well, let's think about this. David, is very kind. He can be a bit overly cautious at times, and doesn't always believe in himself as much as he should… but you can always depend on him. He'll always be there when you need him. And he's so sweet, and kind. And adaptable. You ever notice that? David is always willing to try new things, to accept different ways of life…"

"Yea, yea I've noticed that. Go on."

"Then there's _you_… Hard headed, stubborn, self centered a good part of the time. You never seem to accept who, and where, you are. You like being the best, you like taking charge, being the main guy. The _tough guy_, you _love_ being the _tough guy_. You're also protective, of yourself, if not someone else. You never want people to know what goes through your head, to know your weaknesses. Though _I_, as Marion, know _I'm_ you weakness. But you're also dependable. Not all of the time, but if you know you have to do something you do it. You'd never let your friends get hurt. And responsible, you _are_ responsible, I'll give you that," Amelia said. Karl was nodding his head in agreed for the last bit of that.

"So who would you chose?" he asked her, impaitently. Amelia bit her lower lip. 

"If you want the truth, which I can see you do… I'll put it classically. You're the Sheriff of Nottingham, and David is Robin Hood," Amelia said in a tone showing she was worried about his response. Karl sighed and looked at the ground. 

"Maid Marion, I get it," he said sadly. Amelia sighed.

"Listen, lover boy. You asked me, and I told you. Now I'll tell you something more…"

"Oh _great_."

"Just listen, just listen. You and David have Marion in this trap, in this _castle_. You've locked her away with vows of love. She wants to get out, and she has two ways, but both of them would be bad. She runs away with Robin, she runs the risk of running for the rest of her life. She'll be running from _you_. Now if she runs away with you, she'll always wonder if she didn't leave something _more_. Do you understand me?" Amelia asked him. Karl nodded his head.

"Yea, I think so."

"Karl, I ask you, I plead you. And I'll ask and plead the same from David. Examine your love, make sure it's real," she told him. Karl looked from the floor to her.

"Where are you, when all of this 'locking away' is taking place?" he asked her. Amelia smiled. 

"I'm standing outside of Marion's door, waiting for her run away, so I can go in and clean up," Amelia told him. Karl sighed. 

"So how can I become Robin Hood?" Karl asked her. 

"Karl, you can't _become_Robin Hood? You have to be Robin Hood naturally. Marion wants you to be the real you, she doesn't want to love someone who's pretending to wear tights and shoot a little arrow," Amelia told him. Karl nodded, smiling.

"You know, Amelia, someday you're going to make a guy very miserable."

"Hear, hear," Amelia said taking a sip of her drink.

"Hey wait a minute, you finished your drink…" Karl said.

"Yea, this is yours."


End file.
